The two nuclear power stations at Heysham run on shifts, contractors and outage crews, and the questions that come from them, about working time, agency status, redundancy as the older station approaches the end of its generating life, and what happens to terms when a contractor changes, are a distinctive strand of employment law in Lancaster. The port alongside, with its ferries and freight, adds TUPE transfers and shift disputes of its own.
The district's largest employer, though, is Lancaster University, and academic employment has its own shape: fixed-term research contracts that are renewed until they are not, redundancy exercises in departments, grievances over workload and complicated rules on who owns research. The University of Cumbria campus, the Royal Lancaster Infirmary and the Morecambe Bay hospitals trust, Lancaster City Council and the hotels, holiday parks and cafés of Morecambe bring the rest: discrimination and whistleblowing in the public sector, seasonal contracts and holiday pay on the seafront, and small employers who have never written a contract down.
Employment law solicitors in Lancaster act for both sides. For employees that means advice on a disciplinary, a grievance or a settlement agreement, which has to be countersigned by an independent adviser before it binds, and bringing a tribunal claim where one is justified; for employers it means contracts, handbooks, fair procedures and defending claims. Claims go to the tribunal's north-west region and are heard by video or in Manchester. Early conciliation through Acas must start within three months less a day of the dismissal or act complained of.
Expect a free first call, fixed fees for settlement agreements and documents, and hourly or capped fees for a claim.
Lancaster's employment solicitors are ranked below, verified ones first. What employment law covers is a short primer and the general employment law solicitors page explains fees; employers may also want business law solicitors in Lancaster, and the county town is covered by the Preston employment page.
